photo: luke hoagland; feature photo: iowa spirit walker
A Korean school cafeteria is a loud, abrasive, and a chaotically organized mirror of its motherland. In the cafeteria, I see threads of culture interwoven: the graceful balances of young pop culture and old traditions, modernism and traditional methods, a blend of east and west
Simply put, it’s chaos.
At one end of the room, lunch workers, better suited for chemical warfare than serving kim chi, stand by stainless steel tubs. The other end of the room is a never ending eruption of children. Adding to the pandemonium are 40 yard dashes down the lunchroom gauntlet with trays of scorching hot soup and a trail of stern teachers.
Despite all the madness, those in charge exude a sense of normalcy. This ability to function amidst chaos is common in Korea.
Take a walk down any street in a Korean city and the chaos envelops you. Snarled up spider webs of electrical cables hang precipitously overhead. Driving is a suicidal mission of speed from point A to point B, and forget about walking if you like your ankles in a working order.
Although looked upon as wild, and sometimes dangerous, this country’s waltz with disorder works like a well-oiled machine.
The Evolution of Tradition
Old seamlessly meets new, Eastern traditions draped in Western clothing.
Back in the cafeteria, tray in hand, the journey to your lunch table reveals cultural currents.
First, while rotating your tray to accept your food, you will notice the evolution of Korean traditions. Students wearing Nikes and Mickey Mouse t-shirts will bow as they shuffle along the windows. Old seamlessly meets new, Eastern traditions draped in Western clothing.
If you’ve survived the process of getting your food, you’ve got to find a seat. This is a great opportunity to peer through the window of social climate. There is an unyielding sense of pride from the people here. Each individual is accommodating to a fault, as if they personally want to be the reason you take home an appreciation for Korea.
Don’t be shocked to see a symphony of “Come here” gestures when you begin your navigation of the lunchroom.
Where To Sit?
Try to grab a seat on the appropriately gendered side of the group. Don’t be too concerned if you cross contaminate, though; you are a foreigner, after all. Just give a polite bow to the group, sit, and begin.
Slurp, Slurp, Smack
If you haven’t already noticed, anything on your tray that once had a skeleton will still have it, so think twice before you chomp down. Kimchi will most certainly grow on you. Keep an open mind.
Your neighbors will almost certainly heighten the dining experience. Koreans have been described as voracious eaters. Don’t be surprised by deafening lip smacks and other open mouthed noises you’ve never heard from dining companions.
Of all places in Korea, the lunch room is where I discovered my niche with the genuine and thoughtful people here. The enthusiastic pace of national pride and prosperity is echoed by the attitude of its citizens at the dinner table. They thrive in the frighteningly chaotic world around them, and the richness of culture and history is akin to the cuisine I find on my tray.
COMMUNITY CONNECTION:
Thinking about teaching English abroad? South Korea comes in at #2 on our list of the top 10 places to teach English. If you’re looking for other types of jobs, though, check out our top 10 resources for finding a job in Asia.
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12 Comments... join the discussion!
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I’m going to have to second that. Every one I know that worked there also hated it. Guess it didn’t help that they had all had previous work experience in Japan (a.k.a. foreigner paradise) though.
As far as visiting though, I’ve been there once and had a great time.
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It’s all about how much research you do before you accept a job. Yes, there are a lot of small private schools that have perfected the art of screwing foreign English teachers. However, there are also plenty of gigs in the country that will leave you with an overflowing bank account and a year’s worth of unforgettable experiences.
I lived in Seoul for 2 years and can’t wait to go back (for disclosure’s sake, I worked for a publishing company, not as a teacher.)
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I’ve also heard mostly negative things about South Korea. I’m currently teaching in Japan and a colleague here who’d previously been in Korea had only negative things to say about it–schools mistreat their teachers, the hours are awful, school directors would change plans at the last minute…but hopefully if you do a lot of careful research you could avoid this kind of thing. She made it sound like poor treatment of teachers was pretty common, though.
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Hal is right on:
“It’s all about how much research you do before you accept a job. Yes, there are a lot of small private schools that have perfected the art of screwing foreign English teachers. However, there are also plenty of gigs in the country that will leave you with an overflowing bank account and a year’s worth of unforgettable experiences.”
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I just got to South Korea this week, so my experience is kinda limited, but I think i can say not all jobs are the horror stories some will tell you. I have a job in a small public school just north of the Seoul city limits. I went through a recruiter to get the job and I’m the only foreign teacher there. However, everyone at the school’s been extremely accomodating, they even got me an apartment across the street from the Western Dom in Ilsan because the school’s in a poorer neighborhood and they’ve been doing everything they can to make sure that I’m comfortable. Granted, I’m kind of an easy person to please, but they’re working overtime to help me out.
I think the biggest thing to do is go through a reputable recruiter and try to hook with a public school. It’s less pay but they won’t hold you visa hostage, from what I’ve been told, and you even get more vacation days to boot (although you have to work every other Saturday for a half day).
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I’ve lived in Korea teaching English for over four and a half years. My first year I worked at a hogwon (language academy) and was treated very well and paid on time. My hours were longish (30 hours a week) but nothing I couldn’t handle. I think some of the people who whine so much about the working conditions here are kids straight out of college who have never suffered the indignity of working a shitty job back home.
I love it here. I’ve been working at a university for the past three and half years, so I have it pretty good. Most people I know here like it and are happy. A few people come here and get screwed by their employers (there are some sketchy ones), but they are by far the minority.
Koreans can be prickly to deal with at times, but I don’t mind. This place isn’t for everyone, but it’s sure worked out well for me.
Just my two cents.
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John – Awesome article. Pretty spot on. The teachers usually have me go eat lunch with them before the students do, but honestly I’d rather be there for the time you mention, when it’s all chaos and fun.
As far as the comments go, notice how the only people with negative comments are peope who’ve never been here, while the people who have been here have positive comments. It depends on the person, of course. If you’re open minded, willing to try new things, out going, and friendly, you’ll have a good time here. If you are hard to work with, can’t make friends easily, and generally just an a-hole, sure you won’t like it. I know tons of foreigners, and the great majority like it, even ones with shitty schools, because they can find good things outside of school. Even if you do have a bad school, at least you’re making good money, and having a great experience.
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Thanks all for reading the article.
What I’ve found, even within my own little town, that there is so much variation in the system. Every school is a completely different entity playing by seemingly totally different rules. While all the public school English teachers are under the same contract with a program called GEPIK, the differences in every situation is staggering.
There are nightmare experiences, my good friend is dealing right now, but the majority of the people are enjoying themselves.
As with all experiences, do your research, be open minded, patient, practice a willingness to respectfully contribute to the place you are in as best you can with selflessness, and I’m sure good things will happen for you.↵ -
I love te colours and lay out of your blog, i really want to get hold of this theme, what are you using?
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My blog is on the site travelblog.org. Its super userfriendly, easy to navigate and the forum is a wealth of knowledge out there for any kind of trip you’re planning. I highly recommend using it to anyone.
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Hello,
I am a high school senior this year and I plan on taking Korean as a minor when I enter college…I want to learn as much as possible about teaching English in South Korea to prepare myself in case I decide to do that as a job while I travel.
I know it might be too early to be worried about this, but I wish to just keep things in mind. I read on some of the comments about “recruiters” and my request is that if anyone has information to companies that have a good reputation for their recruiters can you please let me know??
i have plenty of time until I graduate from college, but I don’t think it’s ever too early to get connections and get associated with a completely different culture.
Any form of information will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!!!!! ^_^
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